Franz Loeschke of Germany and Sara Svensk of Sweden take top honors at Ironman 70.3 St. Polten.

Men

Loeschke took small advantages in the swim, bike and run legs that added up to a short margin of victory over top race rival and Austrian home country favorite Thomas Steger. Loeschke combined a 5th-best 24:52 swim, a 3rd-fastest 2:11:24 bike split and a race-best 1:12:12 half marathon to finish in 3:52:37 with a 38 seconds margin of victory over Steger and 3:06 over 3rd place finisher Michael Weiss of Austria.

Paul Ruttmann of Austria took 4th, 5:28 behind the winner and Markus Liebelt of Germany was 5th, 23 seconds behind Ruttmann.

Loeschke’s win follows a 5th at Ironman 70.3 Ruegen. In 2018 he took 2nd at Ironman Barcelona and 5th at Ironman Hamburg. In 2017, he won Ironman 70.3 Austin and earned runner-up finishes at Ruegen 70.3 and Miami 70.3.

Women

Sara Svensk of Sweden overcame a 4:43 deficit after the swim with a dominating 2:25:31 bike leg that gave her a 1:30 lead over nearest pursuer Bianca Steurer of Austria. Svensk then ran a women’s third-fastest 1:23:15 half marathon to finish in 4:26:05 with a 2:06 margin of victory over Steurer (1:23:47 run) and 4:21 over 3rd place finisher Julia Gajer of Germany (1:23:12 run split).

In 2018, Svensk had a 3rd place at the Ironman 70.3 European Championship, a 5th at Ironman North America Championship, and 6th at Ironman Austria.

Ironman 70.3 St. Pölten
St. Pölten, Austria
May 26, 2019
S 1.2 mi. / B 56 mi. / R 13.1 mi.

Results

Men

1. Franz Loeschke (GER) 3:52:37 S 24:52 T1 2:08 B 2:11:14 T2 2:13 R 1:12:12
2. Thomas Steger (AUT) 3:53:15 S 24:55 T1 2:12 B 2:11:52 T2 1:53 R 1:12:24
3. Michael Weiss (AUT) 3:55:43 S 27:47 T1 2:40 B 2:09:34 T2 2:18 R 1:13:25
4. Paul Ruttmann (AUT) 3:58:05 S 28:28 T1 2:23 B 2:09:40 T2 2:20 R 1:15:16
5. Markus Liebelt GER) 3:58:28 S 27:07 T1 3:07 B 2:13:22 T2 2:08 R 1:12:45

Women

1. Sara Svensk (SWE) 4:26:05 S 31:58 T1 2:59 B 2:25:31 T2 2:25 R 1:23:15
2. Bianca Steurer (AUT) 4:28:11 S 29:14 T1 2:29 B 2:30:14 T2 2:28 R 1:23:47
3. Julia Gajer (GER) 4:30:26 S 29:06 T1 3:22 B 2:32:25 T2 2:22 R 1:23:12
4. Laura Zimmerman (GER) 4:32:50 S 32:37 T1 3:09 B 2:28:39 T2 2:38 R 1:25:49
5. Kristin Leopold (GER) 4:34:21 S 33:12 B 3:19 B 2:35:25 T2 3:08 R 1:19:20
8. Amber Ferreira (USA) 4:45:31 S 29:18 T1 3:07 B 2:37:19 T2 3:16 R 1:32:33